Keb' Mo'

Keb' Mo', born Kevin Moore, began his musical fascination at a young age, learning most any instrument he could, whether it was guitar, steel drums, or upright bass. In his 20s, he performed in different blues and backup bands. During this time, he recorded with Papa John Creach, who started off as the violinist in Jefferson Airplane. Creach forged his own solo career with Mo' playing guitar and providing backup vocals. In 1980, Mo' released his first solo album, entitled Rainmaker. Throughout the '80s, he continued to perform in various bands, most notably the blues outfit the Whodunit Band. In the early '90s, Mo' developed his onstage persona in the musical "Spunk," where he played the character Guitar Man, performing all of his music on stage and in character. In 1994, he released his first album as Keb' Mo', simply titled Keb' Mo', which earned his first Grammy nomination and win. Two years later, Mo' released Just Like You, which wound up netting the artist his second Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. At the start of the 2000s, Mo' continued to steadily churn out new music, including the children's album Big Wide Grin that got him to guest star on an episode of "Sesame Street" (PBS/HBO 1969-). In 2003, he worked with Martin Scorsese on "The Blues" (PBS 2003), a series of documentaries focused on the history of blues music. 2004 saw Mo' add another trophy to his cabinet with his third Grammy award win for the album Keep It Simple. At the end of the first decade of the 2000s, his pace slowed down but he still kept creating and releasing brand new music, earning more recognition along the way. In 2010, he recorded the theme song for the sitcom "Mike and Molly" (CBS 2010-16), and contributed various other music for the show.